Vietnamese

Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam and is spoken by around 70 million people. It is a tonal language with a complex writing system, and has been influenced by Chinese and French. Vietnamese is a tonal language, which means that the meaning of a word can change depending on the pitch of the speaker's voice. There are six tones in Vietnamese, which are shown with diacritics (marks above or below a letter) in the written language. For example, the word 'ma' can mean 'mother', 'horse', or 'ghost', depending on the tone. The Vietnamese writing system is based on the Latin alphabet, but with a number of additional characters. These are used to represent Vietnamese sounds that don't exist in the Latin alphabet, as well as to show tones. Vietnamese has been influenced by both Chinese and French. During Vietnam's history, it was ruled by China for around 1000 years, and so many Vietnamese words are similar to Chinese. For example, the Vietnamese word for 'book' is 'sách', which is pronounced similarly to the Chinese word 'shū'. After Vietnam gained independence from China in 938 AD, it came under the rule of the French. This lasted until 1954, and during this time French became the language of the educated Vietnamese elite. As a result, many Vietnamese words are of French origin, such as 'phòng' (room) and 'đồng hồ' (clock). Nowadays, Vietnamese is the first language of around 70 million people, and is spoken widely throughout Vietnam. It is also spoken by Vietnamese diaspora communities in other countries, such as the USA, Australia, and France.